I have been doing a handful of small projects in between preparations for my class, bookkeeping, and marketing tasks (oh the joys of a small design shop!). These little packets of design recommendations are great for home owners with limited budgets who want some professional guidance, but can’t afford to divert too much of their overall budget into design.
Not sure where you fit in? Think about a grand total budget for your project. Design services shouldn’t exceed 10% of that amount. Now, good design takes time: it is never mindless, easy and fast (damn you, HGTV). But don’t despair. A package of well considered plant recommendations, quick perspective drawings and a simple plan can often be done in less than 20 hours.
Share This
Posted
on May 5, 2011, 11:21 am,
by randi,
under
General Info.
Well, almost. I just finished my semester teaching at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, and had a wonderful time. An amazing group of students, of diverse ages, interests and backgrounds, I hope they got as much out of it as I did. It’s a great challenge to think about how to teach the design process; it was an education for all of us.
Share This
An appropriately otherworldly design by BIG for Greenland’s new National Gallery was recently unveiled, the winner chosen from six invited architects. The concept is a response to the rugged and somewhat exotic conditions of Greenland itself, one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Greenland has about 60,000 permanent residents, spread out in isolated communities on the southern tip. The largest city, Nuuk, where the museum will be located, has no roads connecting it to the few other small cities, since enormous fjords traverse most of the country’s geography.
I work at a cultural institution here in San Francisco, and let’s just say I don’t envy whoever is responsible for driving ticket sales at Nuuk’s latest architectural gem. Practicalities aside, the geometric purity of the design and how it’s assimilated into the site’s topography make for an eye-popping set of renderings.
Share This
Posted
on January 1, 2011, 2:49 pm,
by randi,
under
General Info.
Starting the week of January 17th, I will be teaching an undergraduate landscape architecture studio at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, and will have limited availability on Mondays and Wednesdays. I am thrilled to be teaching this semester and look forward to helping a great group of talented undergrads find their voice in a complex field. We will be working on two site design projects in San Francisco and I will be sure to share our progress and bits of our syllabus as the semester progresses.
Happy New Year to all!
Share This
Posted
on October 30, 2010, 10:25 am,
by randi,
under
Resources.
The American Society of Landscape Architects has launched a splashy new website introducing a broad definition of sustainability as it relates to site construction and landscape architecture. The intended audience seems to be the public, and anyone else who might not have a clue what it is we do. Twenty case studies illustrate various sustainable design elements and by reading through them all, I feel like the range in scale and detail shows just how broad the field is, and how micro and macro decision making is crucial to working in a less environmentally hazardous way.
Critique and controversy are sorely missed. I think the ASLA can still champion its award winning projects and its mission and still ask tough questions. Is it more sustainable to do nothing? Do we care if it’s ugly? What trends here are just aesthetic trends, and what elements are innovations that will really change how we work? I don’t have the answers, and I am a admirer of many of the case study projects. I am just always hoping for more, more, more.
Maybe I’m just sore they’ve used my color scheme!
Share This
Posted
on October 15, 2010, 7:46 pm,
by randi,
under
Resources.
Today I was inspired when I came across the M’Afrique furniture collection for Moroso. Designers Patricia Urquiola and Birsel+Seck have created truly sculptural pieces that would be at home in a refined, minimal urban garden as well as a lush, maximal bramble. Outdoor furnishings can be as powerful a design element as a garden wall or even a specimen tree: why not choose something gorgeous?
Share This
At Templeton Ridge Winery and Burbank Vineyards the clients are passionate, creative people embarking on the exciting task of building a vineyard and winery from scratch. They love their setting, the view and the greater landscape, but disliked many aspects of the style and quality of the home on the site.
The view above shows the entry in transition. Soon it will be surrounded by drifts of olives, waves of golden grasses, and simplified concrete paving that will compliment and quiet the angularity of the house.
The photo below shows the existing entry that greeted us at the main house when Nicole Kelly and I began our project.
Share This
I’ve recently completed a quick handbook of staging recommendations for a Lower Pacific Heights Edwardian home in San Francisco. The owner is having her interior professionally staged by a staging company and recognized that a good deal of attention was needed for her exterior spaces as well.
The house is gorgeous, but was lost behind a hodge podge of dead and dying plants in mismatched planters and crumbling diagonal lattice. I proposed a series of quick fixes for each exterior space, including the entry garden, interior light wells and two small decks. As soon as it’s officially on the market, I’ll update my blog with listing info!
The proposed entry includes new paint on the garage door and garden gate, tidied and pruned back plantings, mexican pebble rock mulch and 3 large planters with sculptural plantings.
The existing entry.
Share This
Posted
on August 17, 2010, 8:15 am,
by randi,
under
On the Boards.
I just completed some work for Meyer + Silberberg, assisting them with some renderings for a new waterfront park on the shores of Dianshan Lake, on the outskirts of Shanghai. As always, it was a pleasure working with that office; I’ve never known designers to be more thoughtful or throw their heart and soul into every last detail the way they do.
The park will be beautiful. Sinuous, braiding marshes, long, grand pedestrian and bicycle promenades and amazing waterfront amenities.
Share This
Posted
on August 14, 2010, 1:32 pm,
by randi,
under
On the Boards.
We are in the bid process for the Midcentury ranch landscape in San Rafael. The design was a fun collaboration with the client (a designer herself) and myself. She was inspired by the Portland residence that Third Nature Studio completed last year. There are a few similarities, but this garden will be distinctly Californian.
Share This
